A Haunting of Crain Mannor
by Kabien
Summary: Years after the events of the series, a new generation of Crains must learn the truth about their family's dark secrets as a new Nell Crain discovers the secrets of her Family's estate.
1. Steve's Funeral

**Chapter One**

For as long as I could remember, my family was always haunted by secrets. Even when my Great Uncle Steven released a book that told many, no one wanted to acknowledge them. Instead, we kept our silence.

I was in my Great-aunt Theo's house, looking through her Library when I first stumbled upon my Great Uncle's book, "The Haunting of Hill House". The cover was worn and the pages smelled moldy. Possibly from years of being untouched. My curiosity got the better of me as I remember sneaking it into my bag.

It took only a day to read it from cover to cover. The story was one I remembered my grandfather, Luke, telling me many times. About the girl from the woods. About how a house, a mere structure made of brick and wood, manipulated my great-grandmother into committing suicide. How in one night everything my family knew had changed.

What the book didn't talk about was after. How years later the house would claim not only my Great Aunt Nelly, whom I'm named after, but my great-grandfather. Still, the days came and went. The months turned into years, and I soon found myself back at my Great-aunt Theo's, holding the same copy of my great uncle's book as I sit in the parlor full of people all dressed in black. I cry even though inside I'm angry. In these last few years I had grown closer to my Uncle Steve. He heard of my interest in the background of Crain Manor, formerly Hill House, and decided to help me research for my college paper. I wanted to breathe new life into these old Fables. Show the others in my family that that was all they were... tales of misfortune.

The parlor had many people who I recognized and many more that I hadn't. They must be his fans. Why else would any random person want to attend Stephen Crain's funeral? It wasn't as though he had done any profound thing for the community. He told "ghost stories", nothing more. Then again, I was the one sitting on the couch holding a book that was really nothing more than my ghost story.

"Hey Kiddo." I looked up, dried my eyes and put on the fakest smile I could possibly dredge up. I didn't need to hide anything from my grandfather, he knew me probably better than my own parents. I welcomed his hug especially today.

"Gramps." My voice cracked, giving me away.

"Are your parents coming?" He asked. "I tried to get in touch with your father but..."

"Yeah, I doubt it." I replied. My parents began distancing themselves years ago from the Crain name. My father always thought it brought trouble, and really who could blame him. First, he stopped the phone calls and then he changed his last name. I always thought that last bit was a little too dramatic.

Still, looking at the hurt in my grandfather's eyes I couldn't help but feel for him. I had seen growing up how hard he worked to be supportive of my dad. To have your own child disowned you was a sign of failure, and my grandfather never took failure well. I grabbed his hands and squeezed. Hopefully to bring him back. It's strange, but I always felt as though I could transfer a positive energy just by touching. My Great-aunt Theo would always say how I'm certainly a Crain woman. Lord knows what that must have meant.

I made sure my eyes met his and with them a reassurance that he was not alone. "Screw them. I'm here."

"This is a surprisingly good turn out." My great-aunt Theo said as she walked over to our pow-wow in the corner. The years never seem to show for her. She was still as jaw-dropping gorgeous as the old photos I've seen of her in my auntie Shirley's attic. Her dirty little drinking habit was also still very alive and kicking. I always admired her way of speaking her mind, and this time was certainly no different. She wasn't going to let a little death get in the way of her strong thoughts towards her big brother. "Who knew Steve was on so many people's good side?"

"I think it's the writer thing." I replied, "A big name like his is bound to bring quite a crowd." I had spoken to a few people already and they were all there simply because they "loved his work."

She took a sip of her glass that already looked as though it had been filled quite a few times. The sip lingered in the back of her mouth for a moment before she finally swallowed. "Nell, my dear, you are probably right. We are forever just a show to people thanks to that stupid book." She pointed to the copy that I had forgotten was still in my hands.

"Theo." My grandfather began, "Not today."

"Of course not. I wouldn't want to ruin another Crain funeral."

"That's not-"

"I know." She sniped, "I know. I'll behave. He doesn't deserve it; but I'll behave." She kissed my cheek, took another Sip and continued on her way. The hostesses job was never done, and I was once again left with the awkwardness that had been justifying my parents absence.

I wanted very badly to change the topic and so I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Was she always like that?" I felt the regret surge through me even as the words escaped my lips. Especially since I already knew the answer. Yes. Yes she had.

It was time to change the topic again before my grandfather could give me his "You really know better than to ask" face that I always loathed. "Any chance you think Aunty Leigh would let me dig through Uncle Steve's office?" I still had my paper to write and if that meant having to go looking for the notes, I guess that was what was going to have to happen.

"I don't see why not."

We both looked across the room to wear my Aunt Leigh sat on a chair, her face wet and red from a recent burst of tears. Her eyes avoiding everyone else's. She looked completely alone in her own grief.

"But maybe wait to ask."

It destroyed me to see her by herself a stranger's came over and offered their condolences. Every time I saw her at something she was always in control. She always had a confidence and reassurance to give people. Now looking at her she just seemed lost. I could just feel a screaming energy coming from her and knew that she shouldn't be left alone. "I'm going to go sit with her."

There was no disagreement. My Grandfather clearly felt it as well and completely understood.

As I approached something caught me off-guard out of the corner of my eye. A stunning woman in a blue dress and not a dark blue but a cheerful blue. A very odd color to be wearing to a funeral. Now to think of it, the color is what caught my eye more than anything else. I vaguely remember having seen that particular woman before, but for some reason the memory is not coming to me. I turned trying to quickly get a glimpse of her but she was gone.

I continued over to my Aunt Leigh & took the seat next to hers. She still avoided the looks, but I didn't need her to look at me for me to understand what she was feeling. She began to shake again as another wave of tears hit her. I took her hand into mine and felt the pain. My chest began to feel heavy and my heart pounded even harder and deeper as all I began to feel was sorrow. I allowed it to consume me. If I was able to take even this much of her pain away I was going to allow it to consume me.

We sat like that for the rest of the service. Hand in hand.


	2. A New Friend

**Chapter Two**

Nell's bedroom always had been littered with stuff animals. The amount of times her mother has said to clean them up have been countless. Even at night though, now found it a strange comfort to have her toys scattered about. Her walls were filled with drawings she had completed telling stories adventures she had gone on in her mind. Strip them bare and one wood on earth a pale pink wallpaper that matches the bedspread on the small twin bed, in the corner of the room, near the window.

Tucked under the covers was a little lump. The lump lets out a tiny snore, and as it rolls over it exposes little Nell's innocent face. Her eyes are closed and she looks completely at peace.

The room was still; so when a small voice in the dark whispered, "Nell." It sounded almost as though it was put through a loudspeaker. Although it was loud it did not disturb the little seven-year-old remained motionless under her covers. "Nelly." It came again and this time dragging out every syllable.

Little Nell's eyes shot open almost as if she was awakened from a spell. She popped up in her covers allowing her plaited hair to fall to her sides. She looked around the room trying to find the source of the call. There was a panic in her face as she pan from wall to wall. Someone was calling to her, right? She wasn't dreaming it? She thought very hard to remember exactly what she had been dreaming moments before she was woken by the voice. Maybe there was some clue as to what it might have been. Nothing came to her though.

"Hello?" She answered back into the darkness. Her voice shook giving away the fear she was trying really hard to keep down.

"Hello." A new voice responded. It was more mature. Not at all like the one that woke her which sounded as if it had come from a child. Now looked into the far corner of her room where the two walls met and just before her closet door frame began. The darkness appeared to be even more prominent there. She squinted to try and make out anyting. A faint figure began to take shape. A woman in a flowing nightgown. Her head was tilted to one side and the silhouette of her hair hung down.

Nell's breath began to deepen. Her chest grew heavy as the shape became sharper. The woman's neck was bulging almost as if it had been snapped like a twig. Nell was frozen in her fear. The shape floated closer, but once it hit the moonlight something remarkable happened. It transformed into a little girl.

"Don't be scared!" The new figure was quick to say. That voice? That was the voice that Nell remembered. That was the voice that woke her.

The new little girl that stood before her looked very similar to Nell. Both shared similar eyes and a reassuring smile. This girl was dressed in an onesie, one that Nell had thought she had seen before but couldn't place where. Her skin was pale and her eyes appeared hollow.

"I didn't mean to scare you." The young girl may have looked about Nell's age but when she spoke it made her appear a lot older. Almost as if she was just trapped in a young body. "I've been wanting to say hello for some time now."

Nell's nerves had begun to calm, but her voice was still shaky. "Who are you?"

The girl took another step forward bringing her to the foot of Nell's bed. "A friend." She said. "Just a friend."

"How did you get in here?" Nell wasn't dumb. She was the only child and didn't recognize the girl from the neighborhood. "Tell me before I call for my daddy!"

"Magic! See, where I'm from if you close your eyes really tight and wish really hard then when you open them you're where you wish you could be!" She climbed onto the bed and sat on its edge."And I wished that I could be here- with you."

Nell looked around the darkened room. "At night?"

"It sometimes doesn't work the way you want it to." The girl chuckled.

Now a lot more calm and relaxed Nell felt more comfortable with the strange girl. By this point she had set up all the way and made room.

"It sounds like a really cool place."

"Sometimes. Sometimes it can also be very lonely, but I have my friend Abigail to play with."

"It's lonely here too sometimes." Nell's excitement turned to sadness. "A lot of people are mean when they find out who my family is."

"Why?" There was no fairness in her ask. Could she really not know who Nell's Great Uncle was? It was a comfort. They had a well documented past and whenever people got wind of the last name Crain all the usual questions and taunts began.

"Even at Halloween, the kids in class would dress up as ghosts and say that they are my grandmother or that the house is going to get me." Nell explained.

Without warning the darkness was interrupted by a burst of light. Nell squinted into the direction of the source. Her father, Robin Crain, stood in the doorway. He was in his bathrobe and looked half asleep himself. She hadn't even noticed the hallway light going on otherwise she would have lowered her voice.

She had forgot the little girl sitting on her bed. How was she to justify her? Her father didn't seem to notice as he said in a raspy voice, "Nell, it's two in the morning. Why are you up?"

"I was just talking to my new-" she paused as she realized that the girl had disappeared. She was all alone on the bed. Her voice drifted off as she realized this, "my new friend?" How was she to justify anything now? "Daddy, I swear she was here! She had pj's and was being really nice to me and..."

Her father came over and talked her back into her bed. "She probably decided that it was late and that little girls should be asleep." Once she was back under the covers he kissed her forehead and bid her goodnight. When he closed the door Nell was left alone in the dark again.

For one last time she sat up and looked around the darkness. No creepy woman and no little girl. Has she dreamt the entire thing? All she knew is that she could feel the grip of sleep's hold returning to her. She laid back down and within moments was out.


End file.
